DE 199 40 584 A1 discloses a method and a system for inserting components onto circuit carriers disposed in a component insertion unit in which electronic components are held in readiness in a container and the container is allocated to specific feeder tracks of the component insertion unit in such a way that in each case component-related data on identification media assigned to the containers is compared with the data contained on so-called machine setup control media. By this, correct and reliable control over the assignment is achieved.
An automatic placement machine is known from JP 8-264994 A and a method for loading printed circuit boards with electronic components is known from JP 7-76364 A, wherein a barcode attached to a component tape is used to characterize the electronic components contained in the component tape.
It is known from DE 25 57 110 A1 and from GB 2 287 860 A that components to be inserted can also be characterized and identified in such a way that the characterization or an identification attribute can be attached directly to the individual component.
DE 199 19 915.9 discloses a method and a device for placing components onto substrates as well as a substrate, wherein the substrate is provided with a transponder in which data relating to the components placed on the substrate can be stored and read.
With this method, following insertion of the components, data relating to the insertion process is transferred by means of a control device via a communication unit into a contactless data storage unit located in or on the substrate. The data is stored in the data storage unit and read out by a readout unit, as well as being drawn upon for an evaluation of the insertion process by means of a control unit. With this known solution it furthermore cannot be ensured that the component types provided in an insertion program for the insertion process to be performed are held in readiness in the feeder devices of an automatic placement machine.
According to DE 198 04 594 a tablet-shaped component magazine has become known in which the components are accommodated distributed in two coordinate directions in corresponding pockets of the magazine so as to be randomly accessible. A transponder is disposed in one of the pockets in place of one of the components and is writ-ten with the specific type data of the components. Owing to the free accessibility of the pockets the transponder data can be read out without problem at any time.
With this method it is possible in the case of the associated component insertion device and the corresponding substrate to process information about the quantities of electrical components and types of electrical components still available on an automatic placement machine in an insertion process, as well as to carry out a unique assignment of the processed components to the populated substrates.
When components stored in tape magazines are used there is the problem that a transponder placed at the beginning of the tape and therefore easily accessible would have to be removed already at the start of the processing, with the result that if an already partially used tape were to be used no identification would be possible. Furthermore, for an optimal execution of an insertion process it is necessary to change the magazines correspondingly promptly to ensure that no downtimes occur.